HTC 10 vs. LG G5 vs. Samsung Galaxy S7: Camera Shootout

Low-light photos

There are a lot of photos in here, so bear with us. We shot in various lighting conditions (dark, dark with bright lights, etc.) and we used three modes - Normal, HDR and flash.

The reason for trying the HDR mode is since the merging process involved helps some phones reduce the noise in the image and also helps with achieveing a better exposure of the darkest and brightest parts of the image.

You can't quite see it in most shots, but there's black grout between the small red tiles - only the LG G5 captured this detail without flash. The Galaxy S7 finally noticed it when we turned its flash on, the HTC 10 never did.

HDR mode resulted in a major decrease in noise for the HTC 10 without having huge impact on sharpness. It didn't do much for the other two.

LG G5's "flash off" photo was quite noisy, but its strong dual-flash brought on a great improvement in quality when shooting at close range. The HTC 10 seems to have a fairly weak flash, because it boosted the ISO to a whopping 4,000 (compared to 550 and 640 for the other two). This resulted in tons of noise.

Flash, HDR off: HTC 10 • LG G5 • Samsung Galaxy S7

HDR on: HTC 10 • LG G5 • Samsung Galaxy S7

Flash on: HTC 10 • LG G5 • Samsung Galaxy S7

Here we tried to use HDR to brighten up the dark courtyard, since the bright light of the vending machine affected exposure.

The HTC 10 did the best job at it while the LG G5 tried a little too hard (it looks bright, but there's no detail). The Galaxy S7 edge photo was a bit dark, but it had the best detail.

Flash, HDR off: HTC 10 • LG G5 • Samsung Galaxy S7

HDR on: HTC 10 • LG G5 • Samsung Galaxy S7

Flash on: HTC 10 • LG G5 • Samsung Galaxy S7

This next shot is quite dark, with very little lighting from the environment. The HDR mode again helps the HTC 10 drop the noise. LG G5's color spectrum sensor helped it preserve the most accurate colors.

HTC 10's issues with flash are especially visible in this shot. ISO explodes to 8,000 and the noise is unbearable. The LG G5 photo is noisy, but fairly detailed thanks to its strong flash.

Flash, HDR off: HTC 10 • LG G5 • Samsung Galaxy S7

HDR on: HTC 10 • LG G5 • Samsung Galaxy S7

Flash on: HTC 10 • LG G5 • Samsung Galaxy S7

This photo may have been taken at night, but the strong light from the parking lot bathed part of the scene.

The Samsung Galaxy S7 edge produced the best shot in all three modes - the lit areas are sharp, the dark areas have little noise. This scene is more of an exception to the rule, though.

Flash, HDR off: HTC 10 • LG G5 • Samsung Galaxy S7

HDR on: HTC 10 • LG G5 • Samsung Galaxy S7

Flash on: HTC 10 • LG G5 • Samsung Galaxy S7

Winner: LG G5. Viewing photos at 100% reveals noise in all of them, but the phone captures the most detail without flash and has the strongest flash to boot. The Samsung Galaxy S7 had its moments, though not quite matching the G5. The HTC 10 was a mess - noisy photos are made worse by enabling the flash (despite what common sense would dictate).